Ref Has "Final Word" on Goal Line Technology

Referees can reject the use of goal-line technology or even overrule it in the Club World Cup, which starts this week in Japan, a senior FIFA official says.

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SHOTLIST: TOKYO, DEC 5, 2012, SOURCE: AFPTV - VAR of the football with GoalRef system - VAR of Jerome Valcke, FIFA secretary general, and other FIFA officials during the press conference SOUNDBITE 1 Jerome Valcke (man), FIFA secretary general (English, 24 sec): "There is no reason to say no to it, as long as it helps, as long as it gives a support to the referee, as long as it doesn’t change the game. It means you don’t stop the game, you don’t ask for an interruption of the game to see if the decision was correct or not. You are just getting in a second, even less than a second, the information that the ball is in." - VAR of the football with GoalRef system SOUNDBITE 2 Jerome Valcke (man), FIFA secretary general (English, 36 sec): "The referee is the one who is making the final decision. So if he has the feeling that for any reason the system is not working, if he doesn’t feel comfortable with the system, if he’s going through the tests 90 minutes before the game he has any doubt and that this doubt cannot be, let’s say, corrected by the provider who will be on site, and you can imagine that for a world cup final there will be more than one person on site, then he has the right to say 'sorry guys, but I don’t think that I can rely on the system.'" - A promotional video about goal-line technology (GLT) - VAR of Jerome Valcke, FIFA secretary general, and other FIFA officials during the press conference /// ------------------------------------ AFP TEXT: Fbl-Asia-WClub-2012-technology,lead Football: Ref has 'final word' on goal-line technology by Shigemi Sato TOKYO, Dec 5, 2012 (AFP) - Referees can reject the use of goal-line technology or even overrule it in the Club World Cup, which starts this week in Japan, a senior FIFA official said Wednesday. Two different GLT systems, Hawk-Eye and GoalRef, are to be used in the eight-game competition from Thursday, when continental kings of club football, including Chelsea and Brazil's Corinthians, will battle for world supremacy. "The referee has the final word when it's about the goal-line technology system," FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke told a news conference in Tokyo. In July, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) -- custodians of the game's laws -- decided to use goal-line technology at the Club World Cup, next year's Confederation Cup and the World Cup finals in Brazil in 2014. Valcke said referees at these competitions will test the system 90 minutes before each game to see if it is working to their satisfaction. "If he has any doubt and if this doubt cannot be corrected by the provider who is on the site, then he has the right to say, 'Sorry, guys. I don't think I can rely on the system'," he said. "Again, the referee is the most important person. He's the one who's making the final decision and he has to keep this right for the final decision," Valcke said. Fans have called for years for the football world to embrace technology aimed at eliminating human error, citing its use in other sports including tennis and cricket. "It's a big day because it's the first time that the technology will be used officially in a game or games. Up to now, it was just experimental." Valcke said it was costing FIFA $1 million to run the two systems at the club championship. "For the time being, it is a bit expensive to install the goal-line technology system, but remember 10 years ago, a plasma screen or a flat screen cost a fortune," he said. "Today, you can find it for $500." Individual associations still have the right to decide whether they use the technology in their competitions. That means UEFA, for example, could opt not to implement the system. FIFA, football's world governing body, has given GLT licences to Britain-based but Sony-owned Hawk-Eye and Germany's GoalRef, from a shortlist of some 10 different companies. The Hawk-Eye system uses seven cameras while GoalRef utilises magnetic fields to determine whether a ball has crossed the line. Both systems transmit their findings to devices that can be worn on officials' wrists. Both are in the running for installation in stadiums for the Confederations Cup in Brazil next June, but other companies can still apply for the chance to have their technology used, said Valcke. He said FIFA would have to decide the contractor "by the end of March at the latest". The Club World Cup kicks off on Thursday in Yokohama, with New Zealand's Auckland City FC taking on Japan's Sanfrecce Hiroshima.